Malignancy
by Gin van Geovanni
Summary: AIDA is an obsevrvant being, it watches carefully, seeks out your weakness and exploits it. This tactic that only meant to affect humans. However, the last AIDA left has it's sight set on another type of player: An NPC, and a Knight.
1. Chapter 1

I usually don't do stories that include character death, in fact I try my best to avoid it, but I though that just this once I'd try it out. I didn't put it in the summary cause I'm slow but yeah, if you don't like multiple character death, then you might want to turn back. There's no death in this chapter but the next one will be like watching Higurashi . . . well maybe not that drastic, but close enough. If you don't mind then please enjoy the show. Also, this is one of my 'first pass' type stories meaning I've only proofread it once, so if some stuff doesn't make sense don't hesitate to tell me.

**Malignancy**

**By: Gin van Geovanni**

**Chapter 1**

Inside of the Hulle Granz Cathedral, Azure Kite sat on top of the altar. He swung his legs slowly, allowing his right heel to hit the Sign on every other swing. In his right hand were the remnants of the chains from Aura's old statue. His bright green eyes narrowed at the rusty fragments. 'It's such a sad circle . . .' He thought. 'Humans are so desperate for a goddess that they would attempt to bind her soul to the earth . . . But then the goddess was so desperate to be close to her subjects that she put up with their ignorance . . .' His grip tightened on the chains, causing them to crack. 'But in the end she distanced herself from them; she even created guardians for herself to keep humans from her . . . For some reason, she attempted to make them look human . . . I suppose in the end she didn't want to be so far away from humans but she absolutely _had_ to . . .' He sighed and closed his eyes.

All of a sudden, the doors opened slowly to reveal a man with a cylinder locked around his left arm. The light outside reflected ominously behind his orange-tinted shades. Azure Kite looked up then hopped off the altar. _''Ovan, you're late." _He snapped.

Ovan smiled ambiguously.

This further irritated the patchwork knight. _"If you don't have anything important to say then leave."_

"Now Kite," Ovan chided. "No need to be so hostile. After all we are both comrades as well as NPCs."

Azure Kite crossed the narrow cathedral hall and yanked Ovan's dark blue scarf. This forced the taller man to lean down to his eye level. It tightened around Ovan's neck, but he continued to smile as though it did not bother him. _"Just because you're an NPC now doesn't mean that I won't destroy you! If you do _anything_ to threaten this World I _will_ make sure you don't come back a second time."_

The lock on Ovan's cylinder glinted. His smiled widened when spoke. "I would do no such thing; after all, this is my World as well as yours now."

Azure Kite paused then let go. He turned his back to Ovan and floated back to the altar. Ovan caught him midway. _"What is it?!" _Azure Kite snapped.

Ovan wrapped his right arm around Azure Kite's neck. "There is . . . something . . ." He smiled painfully. "Something . . . is bothering me . . . Lately it feels . . . as though the AIDA within me is becoming . . . malicious . . . it feels excited when it's near you . . ." Black and red crooked streaks crawled up the left side of Ovan's face. "It tells me that it feels contempt when it is near you . . ."

Azure Kite ducked from under Ovan's arm and backed away. 'What is he talking about?!'

"It feels your contempt of yourself," Ovan continued, a twisted smile forming on his lips. "It feels your contempt of humanity," His glasses began to crack. "It even feels your contempt of this World's beloved goddess." The glasses broke revealing his black and red eyes. ". . . It wants to harness that contempt and turn it into to something much more . . ." The lock fell to the floor as the AIDA emerged. It flexed and writhed from his arm like an energetic serpent.

Before Azure Kite could make a move it grabbed him tightly by the neck and lifted him off the ground.

"The last time it mere dismembered you . . ." Ovan spoke in a slow, creepy tone. As he spoke the AIDA spawned an additional tentacle. It sharpened then poked lightly against Azure Kite's vest, near his heart. "This time . . ." The sharp appendage pierced his heart.

"It will consume you."

**.Chapter 1//End**

* * *

**Author's Note**

Somewhere near the beginning Ovan mentions Azure Kite and himself being comrades and NPCs. I got that little bit from //G.U.+ vol. 5

-Spoiler alert! - I apologize to anyone who has not read the final volume of //G.U.+. After Ovan activates the Rebirth his PC ends up in some kind of virtual underworld. In reality his player died. However, it turns out that the AIDA in his left arm had infected his PC all the way down to his Epitaph; as a result it managed to mimic his avatar's abilities and in a sense bring about it's own Rebirth. It used Ovan as a template, but sense the real player was dead it used the information it had of the PC and created a 'copy Ovan' very similar to way Aura created Azure Kite using her memories of the original Kite.

The comrade thing comes from the fact that in the manga Aina is a medium between the World and Aura. Sense Azure Kite is duty bound to protect Aura, he is protective of Aina by default. This also means that he would listen to her and she will not let him do anything to her brother. Of course Ovan cares a lot for Aina so, in a sense both him and Azure Kite are comrades . . . a very small sense though.

Other than that this was just to feed my curiosity. I will make this short at all costs! And I will get around to finishing the first half of Innocent Atrocities as well as that .Hack//Matrix thing.

Later!


	2. Chapter 2

**Malignancy **

**By: Gin van Geovanni**

**Chapter 2**

Haseo looked over the railing of the bridge to the cathedral entrance. All he could see were the clouds below. They were pretty but otherwise uninteresting. He groaned. 'Shino and Ovan have the same problem: They're always late . . .' he sighed and walked up the stairs. After a few minutes of sitting idly on the bottom step he stood up then opened the doors.

When inside he folded his arms 'I know she told me to wait outside, but I'll die of boredom before she arrives.' He fumed. 'Besides, I'm sure she'll think that I'm inside if she doesn't see me.'

He was about to sit at one of the pews when he noticed something odd. 'Is that a . . . hand?!' Haseo thought. Cautiously, he inched closer until he was standing over the unconscious body of Azure Kite. He knelt down and shook the knight roughly. "H-hey, wake up!" Haseo yelled until the patchwork knight began to stir. For a moment he appeared all right, and then he stopped moving. "Don't fall asleep on me now, wake up, wake up, wake up!" Out of sheer panic he began to slap Azure Kite repeatedly until the knight hit back. _//What was that for?!// _He demanded.

"I thought you were unconscious . . ." Haseo replied rubbing his cheek.

_//I was until you started yelling in ear! Then you started hitting me _after _I woke up! //_

"It looked like you slipped out of consciousness again! Sorry!"

_//Well . . . I didn't . . . // _Azure Kite sat up slowly. _//By the way, why are you here? //_

"Shino sent me an e-mail requesting that we meet outside the cathedral. She didn't specify why though . . ." Haseo massaged his chin in thought. "What about you?"

_//I spend almost all of my time here. //_

'I know that! I meant what did you do to end up unconscious?!"

_//Oh. // _For a moment, Azure Kite considered telling Haseo what had happened to him and who did it to him. However, he reconsidered it and lied. _//There was a small bug in the system; I stopped it, but not before it blew up in my face. The kickback caught me off guard. //_

For a moment, Haseo looked suspicious then he said. "You've got to be more careful." He scolded. "Being invincible doesn't give you the right to be reckless."

_//I merely do what's necessary.//_

"Well, be sure to take the 'necessary' precautions next time, okay?"

_//All right, all right . . . // _Azure Kite ruffled his hair. _//When did you become such a worrywart? //_

"When I decided to keep the few friends I have." Haseo replied flatly.

_//You . . . consider me a . . . friend? //_

"I think we are . . ." Haseo turned his back to the door and sat butterfly style. He rested his hands on his knees. "I mean, we've been hanging out and getting along better for the past four weeks, right?" He extended his left hand.

_//Yeah, we do get along a bit better.// _Azure Kite shook his hand. _//Although there is no defined amount of time for two people to get along . . . or get closer.//_

"I know that. Even a short amount of time can mean a lot . . . Although I think our time was too short."

_//What do you mean? //_

"Well. CC Corp is shutting down the World so they can reformat it for the new M3Ds coming out."

_//Oh that . . . don't worry about me I've got the perfect place to stay when the reformat happens.// _Before Haseo could ask Azure Kite continued. _//This cathedral hasn't changed since the beta version of R: 1 CC Corp honestly can't do anything about this place. // _He smiled smugly. _//All I have to do is stay here when the reformatting begins and come out when it's over. After that, I can make the necessary changes so I can adapt to the new system.//_

"Wow, you really have it all planned out . . . I'm impressed . . ."

Azure Kite simply nodded then he flinched.

"Kite? What's up?"

_//Nothing . . . // _Azure Kite's eyes began to glow. _//Just an aftershock . . . //_

"Are you sure?"

A sudden, alarming expression crossed Azure Kite's face: his lips were twisted into a sharp, toothy grimace. His eyes were devoid of all color. _"Yesssss . . ." _The knight's voice came out as an incoherent hiss. _"I'm ssssureeee . . ."_

Haseo turned around to see what Azure Kite was looking at. He immediately noticed Shino standing a few feet behind him. "Shino!" He said with a mixture of exasperation and excitement. "It's about time you got here!" He stood up to greet her.

Azure Kite stood up as well, but he had a rather blank look in his eyes.

"I apologize, Haseo, I just have quite a bit to do."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm moving to another apartment soon and I'm still handling the paperwork."

"Oh . . . oh?" Haseo blinked when he got a text from Azure Kite. _//I'll just be outside for a bit . . . //_

//Why?//

_//Well, Shino e-mailed you . . . not me, and I'd feel weird if I was intruding in on a private moment.//_

//I see . . . I suppose . . . //

_//Don't worry, I'll just be outside.// _And with that, Azure Kite left the stepped out the door.

Haseo eyed the spot where he stood for a brief moment. 'What's up with him? And what was with that look on his face earlier?'

"Are you worried?" Shino inquired.

Haseo nodded slowly. He then noticed that Shino had a hand on her chest; over the spot where her Sign was. It was a rather reflexive gesture; the problem was she usually did it near Ovan.

Shino could tell what Haseo was thinking and said. "Don't worry about me, for now focus on your primary worries."

"But-"

She put a finger to his lips, silencing him. "After I tell you what I came here for, go see Kite, all right?"

"Shino . . ."

"He is your friend as well, correct? I think you ought to help him."

"Haseo turned a faint shade of red. "You heard that?!"

"There is nothing wrong with speaking your mind. Also, I think that it's good that you're both moving on." She paused as though she wanted to add to that statement, but then changed her mind. "I wanted to give you my new number . . . I know I could have simply e-mailed you, but I . . . had the sudden strong urge to see you here."

"Oh . . ."

"I also wanted to let you know that I may not return to this game when it is reissued."

"I thought you said that you'd play this game until it ends for good!" Haseo exclaimed. "Why the sudden change of heart?!"

". . . I know . . . it's not as though I don't want to keep that vow it's just I don't think I'll be able to . . ."

"What?"

Shino put her hand to her mouth in thought. " . . . I'll . . . see you soon . . ." She turned and walked away.

"Hey, wait a minute Shino!" Haseo attempted to question her but she refused to say more. They paused as they passed by Azure Kite. The knight was leaning on the railing and staring into the foggy distance. Shino jolted slightly and kept on walking; Haseo looked at the chaos gate then at Azure Kite. Then he turned to the knight.

Azure Kite looked slightly surprised. _//I thought you'd follow Shino . . . //_

"I was . . . thinking about it . . . but to be honest, her behavior is a little bizarre. I've never seen her clam up like that."

_//Oh so you're going to use me as a security blanket? // _The patched up knight chided.

"No! That's not what I meant! I just meant that she was acting . . . weird . . . like . . ."

_//Weird like me? //_

"Yeah . . ."

_//Haseo . . . // _Azure Kite looked Haseo dead in the eyes. He had a tired, dead look in his eyes. All of a sudden, he wrapped his arms around the rogue's neck. Haseo froze. He was unsure of how to act; not only because the elusive knight just hugged him. It was also due to the fact that he could _feel _it. He could feel the rough texture of his clothing, his rather soft hair, and the hard leather of his gloves. He could even feel Azure Kite's body heat. All he could do was let the knight lean on him. After a short while, Azure Kite let out a soft breath and let go. _//I'm . . . gonna go somewhere for a bit . . . //_

"Where?" Haseo questioned.

Azure Kite shrugged. _//I . . . don't know . . . just somewhere.// _He turned his back to leave.

"Hey wait a moment! I'll come with you!"

The patchwork knight paused then turned his head. With an exhausted look in his eyes he shook his head then disappeared in a cloud of blue flame.

**.Chapter 2//End**

* * *

**Author's note:**

To be honest, I've no clue where I'm going with this. I'm just typing off the top of my head, so sorry if it makes no sense in the least.

About the 'reformatting' thing it came off the top of my head as well, however sense I'm going to carry this off using the settings from //LINK I thought I'd look into whether or not anyone uses a computer to play the World. So far, no one does. Therefore I'm guessing that CC Corp closed down the World to re-port it.

Laters!


End file.
